2008 Woodie Awards
If boiling a semester down into fewer than 600 words is difficult, doing the same to an entire collegiate experience is next to impossible.
The only solution I have been able to find is to progress quasi-sequentially, taking detours when necessary, but largely moving from freshman year until now.
I owe much of my collegiate courage to the theater department. Thank you to Arthur Feinsod, who convinced me Theater 101 was in my best interest. Thank you to Linda Maule, my adviser, who wouldn't be swayed by my arguments that surely is was not in my best interests. Thank you to my Theater 101 class, who took mercy on me and let me do sound design for the performances. Thank you to Chris Berchild, who helped show me the more academic (i.e., not acting) side of theater, through dramaturgy and other assorted miscellany. Thanks also to Chris for making me feel better about my own struggle with a caffeine addiction and for pointing me in the direction of lysine, which saves the mouth from the horrors of a diet almost exclusively of caffeine.
I owe most of the rest of what I've gained from Indiana State to the political science department. Although I was terrified of most of the professors at the beginning, and to an extent now, the department truly has become my home away from home. Thank you to Laura Wilburn for giving me a mailbox and letting me pretend that the mailroom is the most spacious office in the department, and that it's mine. Thank you to Andrea McAtee, who isn't here anymore, but who let me stay in her office like a perpetual hanger-on. My interest in graduate school stems from your classes and my experience as your research assistant. Thank you to Drs. Perry and Erisman for putting up with me in multiple classes and as a Supplemental Instructor, respectively. Thank you to Dr. Chambers and Kim Fredericks for a variety of things, the most recent of which was the encouragement to apply for a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. That turned out much better than I expected, and if hadn't been for you two, I never would have known about it to apply. Thank you again to Linda Maule for advising me for the past four years, and dealing with the variety of neuroses I had the tendency to bring to advising appointments.
If the political science department has been my home away from home, the Statesman has been my home away from my home away from home. StuPub, as the broader entity is affectionately called, has provided me with lasting friendships and one of the most enjoyable jobs I've had. Thank you to Merv Hendricks, Marcy Shonk, Kathy Gaffney and Stacey McCallister for running a tight ship on the 7th floor. Thank you for listening to my musings and my staff editorial crises of confidence. Thanks to Marcy and Kathy for humoring me and taking a pilgrimage out to Adlai Stevenson's grave with my earlier this semester. Thank you to Lori Henson for being around this school year. Although I've had many a Statesman friend graduate, of my friends still here, I owe the greatest homage to Michelle Pattison. You've gone downstairs with me for snacks, caffeine and venting more times than I can count. You've been up there with me since I was a lowly copy editor, and you've done a much better job as a senior editor than I know I ever could have (which is why I'm content as lowly Opinions editor).
Non-academically, thank you to Karen Jonke, Andrea McAtee and Kim Fredericks for being my surrogate family here in Terre Haute. Having a group of people that I felt close to and could talk has been a big help over the years. The countless dinners, being trusted not to kill your animals and the apartment furnishing -that I know find myself boxing up, preparing for the next step in my life - have all meant more to me than I'll ever be able to express.
Thank you to the friends I have made along the way, including those who have graduated, those who will graduate with me and those who will graduate after me: Ann Arthur, Jessica and Trey Brice, Colin Clayton, Sadie Davis, Ashley Dillard, Jessica Dyer, Clair Hummel, Dan Kiehl, Shyam Kulkarni, Bri Lindsey, Dan Moulton, Michelle Pattison, Priya Ramachandran, Sam Snideman, Beth Sutherland, Kurt Waywood and the collective newsroom your friendship has played a big part in my happiness and success here.
As I move forward to my next adventure, it will be hard to forget that I got to the next step by being here for this one.
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James Rabon
posted 5/04/08 @ 2:44 AM EST
I envy (in a good way) your college experience. It appears as if you had the time of your life and the friends you made along the way made your college experience that much more enjoyable. (Continued…)
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